The City of Santa Marta

Santa Marta is a city in Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena (Departamento del Magdalena) and the fourth largest city in the Caribbean of Colombia. It was established by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas on July 29, 1525. It was the first Spanish settlement in Colombia and it is the oldest surviving The city is also the second largest settlement in South America. The city is located on the bay of the same name, so it is the main tourist destination in the Caribbean.

Catedral Basílica del Sagrario y San Miguel de Santa Marta

The Basilica of Santa Marta is a Renaissance style Catholic temple located in the historic center. It is the first building in the jurisdiction of the church in South America. In the nineteenth century, the body of Simón Bolívar was placed here for twelve years. Since 1953, it has been the remains of the city’s founder, Rodrigo de Bastidas.

History

It was built in the 1760s at the initiative of Bishop Nicolas Nicolas Gil Martinez Marlowe and Governor Andrés Perez. These entrusted the plan to the Royal Army drafter architect Juan Cayetano Chacón. The foundation stone was laid on December 8, 1766. In 1830, the body of Simón Bolívar was buried in a vault and kept until 1842 before being transferred to Caracas. In this temple are the remains of the founder of the city, Rodrigo de Bastidas, who was transferred to Santa Marta in 1953 from the Dominican Republic

Architecture

On the facade, a rectangular tower with a bell tower protrudes on the left. On this basis, a dome was added to the bottom of the temple to give it a Renaissance style. The structure is supported by thick cylinders. The upper part of the bell tower has a unique Byzantine dome in Colombia. The floor plan is divided into three naves, of which the nave is wider than the side nave. The transparent wall is as wide as the central church.

Simon Bolivar

Simon Jose Antonio de la Santisima Trinidad Bolivar Palacios Ponte Andrade Blanco (1783 - 1830), known as Simón Bolívar, was a Venezuela's military and political leader, leading the independence of Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Panama from the Spanish Empire.
On December 17, 1830, Simón Bolívar died of tuberculosis in the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino, Santa Marta, Greater Colombia. Bolivar's body was buried in the Cathedral of Santa Marta. Twelve years later, in 1842, at the request of President José Antonio Páez, they were moved from Santa Marta to Caracas, where they were taken together with the remains of his wife and buried in the Cathedral of Caracas.

Date: October 2019
Photographer: Laszlito Kovacs
Additional information: Wikipedia